School replaces detention with meditation. The results are tremendous
Sep 29, 2016 by apost team
Instead of punishing disruptive kids or sending them to the principal's office why not give them some time to reflect and relax?
Detention and suspension are just too common at schools. Traditionally, if a student was acting up, they were immediately sent to the principal’s office.
But does this sort of punishment actually have any kind of positive impact on children’s behavior. Usually, detention involved blankly staring at walls, trying to whisper to other kids in the room or reading a book while trying to keep your eyes open. Does that sound like it could make a change and make kids reflect on their behavior? Not really. Detention feels redundant, boring and unfair.
There’s hope though. Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has come up with a different approach to students’ misbehavior: meditation.
The so-called Mindful Moment Room has replaced the classic detention room at the Baltimore school. It’s quite the opposite from a detention room: There are lamps, colorful fluffy pillows and plenty of decorations.
Disruptive students, who are sent to the Mindful Moment Room, will encourage in breathing and meditation practices that are supposed to relax them and help them find their inner balance. Besides the practice, they’ll have to talk about their behavior instead of just staring at walls and waiting for the detention to be over.
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Mindful practice and meditation are an interesting topic for science.
The origin of mediation dates back over over thousands of years, but only recently science started focusing on its impact on our minds and bodies - with some stunning results. Supposedly, soldiers can create a mental armor with it and your memory as well as your attention span and concentration will benefit from mindful mediation.
Science considers that meditation is helpful and it’s also successfully used as a supporting element in therapies. That’s why the Robert W. Coleman Elementary has been using this method alongside the programmes of the Holistic Life Foundation, where kids are taught after school how to relax and do yoga.
Kirk Philips, the Holistic Me coordinator at Robert W. Coleman, expresses his surprise for the children’s ability to meditate. According to him they even meditated right before receiving their Christmas gifts. Andres Gonzalez, the Holistic Life co-founder, said in an issue of the Oprah Magazine that some kids even encourage their parents to try some yoga exercises to reduce their stress.
The program teaches the kids to be more aware of themselves and their environment.
The Robert W. Coleman Elementary isn’t the only school that promotes a mindful approach to life. The non-profit organization Mindful Schools intends to set up holistic programs all over the United States. Not only the children profit from these classes - according to Philips there hasn’t been a single suspension in the past year. It seems that teaching kids to be aware of themselves and others sees valuable success.
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